How North Korean leader Kim Jong Un became one of the world's scariest dictators at 34

Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader who has presided over his country’s shocking, uninvited entrance into the nuclear club, turned 34 on January 8.

Kim, current head of the Kim dynasty that’s ruled North Korea since the 1950s, has overseen several nuclear tests, dozens of missile tests, and the most tense, heated exchanges with a US commander in chief in his country’s history.

But between threats of nuclear annihilation, brinkmanship, and attacks on South Korea, Kim, who assumed power at such a young age that many thought his rule would be doomed, has kept a firm grip on power throughout.

With all this attention, still relatively little is known of Kim.

Here’s what we do know of how he grew to be one of the world’s scariest dictators:

Kim Jong Un was born on January 8 — 1982, 1983, or 1984.

His parents were future North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and his consort, Ko Young Hee. He had an older brother named Kim Jong Chul and would later have a younger sister named Kim Yo Jong.

While Kim Jong Un’s official birth year is 1982, various reports suggest that the year was changed for symbolic reasons, including that it was 70 years after the birth of Kim Il Sung and 40 years after the birth of Kim Jong Il.

However, a recent move by the US Treasury Department to sanction Kim Jong Un listed his official date of birth as January 8, 1984.

Kim — here with his mother — lived at home as a child.

During this period, North Korea was ruled by “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung. While Kim Jong Il was the heir apparent, Kim Jong Un’s path to command was far less certain.

Then it was off to Switzerland to attend boarding school.

Called “Pak Un” and described as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy, Kim Jong Un is thought to have attended an English-language international school in Gümligen, near Bern.

Kim Jong Un is described by former classmates as a quiet student who spent most of his time at home, but he had a sense of humour, too.

“He was funny,” former classmate Marco Imhof told The Mirror. “Always good for a laugh.”

“He had a sense of humour; got on well with everyone, even those pupils who came from countries that were enemies of North Korea,” another former classmate told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “Politics was a taboo subject at school … we would argue about football, not politics.”

Kim Jong Un loved basketball and idolized Michael Jordan.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The young Korean reportedly had posters of Jordan all over his walls during his Swiss school days. Although Kim Jong Un was overweight and only 5-6, he was a decent basketball player.

“He was a fiercely competitive player, very explosive,” former classmate Nikola Kovacevic told The Mirror. “He was the play maker. He made things happen.”

“He hated to lose. Winning was very important,” said former classmate Marco Imhof.

He also had a “fantastic” collection of Nike sneakers.

After school in Switzerland, he returned home for military schooling.

Upon his return to North Korea, Kim Jong Un attended Kim Il Sung Military University with his older brother. Some reports say they started to attend their father’s military field inspections around 2007.

While his father faced death, Kim Jong Un was rapidly promoted up the chain of political and military leadership, despite having little experience in either.

He was made a four-star general, deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party, and a member of the Central Committee, according to the BBC.

Kim Jong Un has a theme song known as “Footsteps.”

“Footsteps” looks and sounds like a propaganda song from the Soviet Union.

The song calls people to follow in “Our Admiral Kim’s footsteps.”Here’s a sampling of the lyrics:

Many North Koreans see Kim Jong Un as a youthful version of “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung.

Kim bears a clear resemblance to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, in appearance, haircut, and mannerisms.

Rumours had circulated that Kim Jong Un had received plastic surgery to enhance the resemblance even further, although the North finally responded and called the allegations “sordid hackwork by rubbish media.”

After his father died, Kim Jong Un was quickly declared “Supreme Leader” of North Korea.

When Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack on December 17, 2011, the young Kim Jong Un inherited the world’s fourth-largest military, a nuclear arsenal, and absolute control over North Korea.

He took over ahead of his older brother Kim Jong Chol, whom their father thought was “effeminate” and weak. His other brother Kim Jong Nam apparently said negative things about the regime, according to The Australian. He was killed in 2017, reportedly on the orders of North Korea.

Taking the reins of the country when he was around 30, Kim Jong Un was the youngest head of state in the world when he took power.

Some originally believed that Kim Jong Un’s aunt and uncle were actually calling the shots.

Among Kim Jong Un’s most trusted advisers were his aunt Kim Kyong Hui and her husband, Jang Sung Taek, both 66. The couple was reportedly ordered by Kim Jong Il to control the country’s military and help the young leader consolidate his position while he gains more experience.

At a meeting of the DPRK Workers’ Party, both were photographed sitting close by. Their most important job, it seems, is to push his role as a powerful figure among some generals who do not trust him, according to The Telegraph.

But at the end of December 2013, Kim Jong Un had his uncle and his uncle’s family executed, apparently in a bid to stop a coup against his rule.

But recently, things haven’t been going so well.

DPRK

In 2013, Kim was reportedly the target of an assassination attempt. South Korean intelligence believes the young leader was targeted by “disgruntled people inside the North” after he demoted a four-star general, which resulted in a power struggle.

Kim Jong Un has continued to be belligerent with South Korea and the West throughout his rule in hopes of bolstering his authority.

North Korea has continued to test ballistic missiles and nuclear devices under Kim Jong Un’s rule, despite the threat of sanctions. In 2012, the country launched its first satellite into space.

Since Kim Jong Un has taken over, the country has continued to push ahead with its construction of ballistic and nuclear weapons.

In 2013, North Korea conducted its third-ever nuclear test and its first under Kim Jong Un. Since then, Kim Jong Un has overseen three additional nuclear tests, including the test of a hydrogen bomb, which is much more powerful, and dozens of missile tests, including missiles with the range to reach the US.

The nuclear tests and international condemnations continued into 2016.

On September 3, 2017, North Korea conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test, which experts estimate was many times the size and of the bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to close out World War II. Pyongyang claims the test was a miniaturized hydrogen bomb.

Kim’s sprint to nuclear capability, and each test along the way, drew international condemnation.

In response to North Korea’s continued nuclear testing, world leaders have strongly come out against the Kim regime. Even Kim’s treaty and ideological allies in China and Russia have signed on to sweeping sanctions and condemnations against North Korea’s nuclear program.

That test was followed up by a series of increasingly successful ballistic missile launches that have landed in the Sea of Japan. North Korea has also successfully test launched a ballistic missile from a submarine.

The assassination of Kim’s half-brother Kim Jong-Nam in a Malaysian airport led to a global investigation of North Korea’s involvement.

Amid worldwide suspicion of North Korean involvement, Malaysian police conducted an autopsy against the wishes of the Kim’s government and named a North Korean official and several other nationals as suspects, alongside two foreign women believed to be working as hired assassins.

By March, the conflict between the former allies escalated after Malaysia directly accused the North Korean government of orchestrating the murder. North Korea issued an order that prevented Malaysian citizens from leaving the country while Malaysia responded by cancelling visa-free entry to North Koreans.